Mike Frett's Blog

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

I've been doing this since 2003 and I'm afraid I must end it here. With Twitter and places like Google+, a Blog doesn't make much sense anymore. I appreciate every one of you who visited and enjoyed my posts, I thank you.

You can still follow me by way of Twitter ( @MikeFrett ) and Google+ ( Mike Frett ). I'll leave the Blog here, as-is, for archive purpose.

Monday, July 22, 2013

You say "Steambox, Steambox, Steambox" and I say to you "Games, Games, Games". Yes Games, where are they?. So Valves Steambox is going to be Linux based, specifically Ubuntu 12.04 or most likely some core version of Ubuntu with a custom GUI for the Steambox console.

So we have a Console from Valve called Steambox that's based on Linux. Now tell me, besides the 50 or so platformer and other 25 or 30 puzzle games; where is the real Beef?. I'm talking about AAA quality games. If Valve wants their console to succeed, it's going to take more than the Indie games currently being offered in Steam for Linux.

Hey Valve, I'm a die-hard Linux user but I hate to break the news to you; I'm not buying your $500 console just to play Games that look like some graphical return to 1991. Let's take Desura for instance whom was recently bought out by the makers of Second Life. Desura actually sells some AAA games for Linux, to name a few; Descent, Freespace and Fallout. Not to mention, pound for pound, Desura has more games than Steam for Linux. Some of them totally Free!.

The Specs being tossed around for the Steambox are overkill for the games currently offered in Steam for Linux; It doesn't take an Intel i7 to smoothly run Organ Trail. Not to mention Controller support for many of these games are less than stellar. Good luck getting those small Indie teams to rewrite their games to better add Controller support for Steambox.

I've got this funny feeling, Steambox is going to fall flat on it's face and take all the progress Linux has made in Gaming with it. Valve would totally need to make Half-Life 3 a Steambox exclusive at this point. The Linux community would revolt in mass against Valve if they happen to screw this up. Valve really needs to step up it's act to get Developers to port their games to Linux and get Video card drivers up to par and I'm not not seeing either right now. It's a complete mess to be quite frank.

There is one thing I can tell you for certain, I'll never go back to Windows knowing what all of us know now, that all those rumors about Backdoors and monopolistic behavior from Microsoft the NSA and Prism, are totally true. Using Windows at this point is like spitting on the graves of all those Men and Women that died for our Constitutional rights. I'd rather use Linux and have complete Freedom and lack of Games, than to use Windows and give up my Freedom in exchange for Slave Chains and stale AAA Games from Companies who sell you the same game every year with a new skin.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

" #Microsoft has collaborated closely with US intelligence services to allow users communications to be intercepted, including helping the National Security Agency to circumvent the company’s own encryption, according to top-secret documents obtained by the #Guardian.

The files provided by Edward #Snowden illustrate the scale of co-operation between Silicon Valley and the intelligence agencies over the last three years. They also shed new light on the workings of the top-secret Prism program, which was disclosed by the Guardian and the Washington Post last month.

The documents show that:

* Microsoft helped the #NSA to circumvent its encryption to address concerns that the agency would be unable to intercept web chats on the new #Outlook.com portal;

* The agency already had pre-encryption stage access to email on Outlook.com, including #Hotmail ;

* The company worked with the FBI this year to allow the NSA easier access via Prism to its cloud storage service #SkyDrive, which now has more than 250 million users worldwide;

* Microsoft also worked with the FBI’s Data Intercept Unit to understand potential issues with a feature in Outlook.com that allows users to create email aliases;

* In July last year, nine months after Microsoft bought #Skype, the NSA boasted that a new capability had tripled the amount of Skype video calls being collected through Prism;

* Material collected through Prism is routinely shared with the FBI and CIA, with one NSA document describing the program as a team sport."

And you STILL want to do business with them? You STILL want to trust Microsoft's OS ( #Windows ) with your personal files and/or communications?

What more do you need? Don't be ignorant, people DIED for the rights Microsoft and the NSA are taking away from you.

Saturday, May 04, 2013

Open the folder, then open the folder inside named "code". In that folder is yet another folder named "Release". Copy this folder (Release) to a more permanent location on your Drive and rename it to something like "JediAcademyLinux". I keep a folder called "bin" in my Home folder to store Downloaded Games and Apps.

For this next part you need your Jedi Academy CDs. Put the first CD in the drive and browse to "GameData/GameData/base". Copy the folder "base" with the file "assets0.pk3" into your JediAcademyLinux folder. Put the second CD in and go to "GameData/GameData/base" again and extract the files "assets1.pk3" and "assets2.pk3" into your base folder with the other file from CD1.

Now let us install a few files. If you have the 32bit version of Xubuntu, open a terminal and type the following "sudo apt-get install libopenal1 zlib1g-dev". If you have the 64bit version type "sudo apt-get install ia32-libs libxxf86dga1:i386 zlib1g-dev:i386". You can install the same files via the GUI Application Synaptic if you like.

The guy who ported it says you should install the patch "JKAcademy1_01.exe" but I didn't know how without installing it in Wine and then patching the files and copying the patched files. The Game seems to be running just fine without it, so that's up to you.

It's time now to play Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy. Open the Game folder and make sure "jasp" is marked as an executable. You can do this in Xubuntu by right clicking the file and selecting properties, clicking the Permissions Tab and making sure "Allow this file to run as a program" is checked.

Now just run the file "jasp" and you'll be playing. In the settings menu of the Game you can select "2048x1536" as your resolution, to run it in your Monitors native Widescreen mode. Have fun!

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

We all know Microsoft gives you Kickbacks to make your Game Windows exclusive. What if I said you could be making more than the Kickback Microsoft is giving you by making your Game for Linux, Mac and Windows?. You would like that I'm sure, who wouldn't want some extra money.

We understand you are using Microsoft as a crutch and are afraid to let them go. Times change, and so are your Customers, your Customers are moving away from Windows to Operating Systems like Linux which provide more freedom to them. If you haven't been keeping up with the news, Microsoft isn't doing so well anymore and there is no telling how much longer they can provide those Kickbacks to you.

Are you willing to risk making a Game for a Platform that's dying?. Windows is slowly becoming irrelevant, don't let your business become obsolete with it. DirectX and XNA are dead, OpenGL is alive and gives you the freedom to make your Games for all Operating Systems. You're at the Cross Roads now, do you take the Road of endless possibilities, or the Dead End?.

Indie games are cropping up everywhere, making games that are compatible with Linux. Companies like EA are close to going bankrupt, THQ already has. The days of the Big Boys are over, and the Indies and Alternative Operating Systems are coming out in full force. You don't have to trust me, go have a look around, but be not afraid of what you find; the future is bright and full of Freedom and Choice.

This is great news for Software and great news for people who enjoy Choice and Freedom. I'm sorry about the delay in Part 2 of the Linux Diet, perhaps I will simply post a batch of helpful tips instead. Until then I'm sure by now you have found most things yourself. You can enjoy Steam and the Software Center.

Also be sure to try DJL for more Games, mostly Free. Also the Linux Game Database has huge lists of Games for Linux. Some Games require Hardware Acceleration and need the Drivers, so make sure to check "Additional Drivers" in the Settings Menu to install those for your card; Nvidia and AMD/ATI work best for most Games.

You can also leave a comment for a Question and I will try to answer it for you if I can, or at least point you to a place that can, Ask Ubuntu is a good place to start. Hope this pretty much covers everything for now.